Belgium-France
The players around head coach Gert Van de Broek easily edged Slovenia and Montenegro there but lost 1:3 to France, their main rivals for the sole ticket at stake to make it to the 2013 European Championship.
“If we want to qualify directly for the final round we need to score a 3:0 or 3:1 win on Friday as we play France in our first match in Kortrijk” says the Belgian mentor. “Still it won’t be easy as France has got some high-quality players like Christina Bauer or Hélène Schleck. Last week in Slovenia we had our chances as the score was very close in the end of the set but we could not finalize our quest. We need to perform well also when it comes to the deciding points and also need a little bit of luck. I hope we can profit of the home advantage and if we can win the first set maybe the French ladies will get nervous and this will help us” he continues.
Van de Broek does not want to think about the third and last qualification round coming up next May where Belgium would most probably play Ukraine if it finishes second in its Pool. “We will have a look at the results of the other group on Friday evening after our match with France. But we still hope to qualify directly via the second round; in order to achieve this goal we need first to beat France and then not underestimate Montenegro and Slovenia in the next matches”.
